Portable electric grills for residential use in the United States are by necessity 110-120 volt AC appliances limited by residential circuit to 1800 Watts, and in Europe they operate on 220 volts AC but are similarly limited to 2200 or 2400 Watts on a residential or house circuit. Consequently, the power available for the heating element in a portable electric grill is frequently limited to the 1350 to 1650 Watt range. It has long been recognized that the heat produced by a 1650 Watt or 1800 Watt heating element is inadequate to provide high temperature grill cooking over a large grill area. If the grill area is too large for such a heating element, sufficiently high temperatures, which generally need to be in the 500.degree. F. to 600.degree. F. range for effective grilling when food is present in a usual amount, cannot be achieved. When inadequate temperatures are produced in an electric grill, there is nonuniform distribution of heat across the cooking surface and inadequate smoking of the food. In those circumstances, the grill does not produce the desired grilled cooking flavors.
In efforts to solve the above problems in portable electric grills, some grills have been limited in size to as small as 100 square inches for table top models and to about 180 square inches for stand alone models. However, it is desirable to have a cooking grill surface larger than 200 square inches, preferably 225 square inches which is a size more customary and acceptable to consumers. Another effort to resolve the above problems with portable electric grills is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,154 wherein the proposed solution involved placing the heating element very close to the food being cooked and having a reflecting pan underneath and very close to the bottom of the heating element. Such attempted solutions are either unacceptable or are not sufficiently effective to provide a viable commercial product.
It is apparent that there is a need for improved efficiency of portable residential electric grills to enable the electric grills to provide acceptable grill cooking of food.